Awakening
by brianna2393
Summary: Ten years after the X-files closed down, a lot of things have changed for Mulder and Scully. However, both yearn desperately for the past. Is it possible to get back what they once had? Or should the X-files be closed for good, and their relationship end permanently?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Scully

As Dana Scully slammed on breaks, she was ashamed to admit that the string of profanity she was currently shouting was nowhere near the most vile grouping of expletives she had exclaimed thus far today. It had already been a hellish day, and she hadn't even made it to noon yet. If you would have asked her ten years ago what she thought her future would hold, not a single part of her current life would have been on the list. She would have predicted that her and Mulder would be dating, maybe even married, still fighting over X files in their basement office. Or maybe that was just what she wanted the future to look like, but a tiny part of her knew it would never be that simple. She never would have guessed that her and Mulder would be practically nothing more than housemates and their careers would be completely separate. In fact, Mulder's current occupation did not really even count as a career. And, that reminded her of their fight from this morning.

She awoke ten minutes before her alarm, which was one of her least favorite occurrences during the work week, to hear Mulder shuffling around the kitchen downstairs. Groggily, she took her shower and began to get ready, but as she progressed through her morning routine, the noises from below annoyed her more and more. By the time she was ready to go downstairs for her coffee and breakfast, she was in a full blown rage without even really knowing why. After hurriedly thrusting two pieces of toast into the toaster, she grunted a quick hello to Mulder before scanning the cabinet for a K-Cup for the coffee maker. The trouble was that the box had been placed back in the cabinet, but inside it there was only stale cabinet air. No K-Cups were in the box at all, and the empty cardboard seemed to be laughing at her as she threw the box into the trashcan angrily.

"Did you use the last K-Cup this morning Mulder?" she asked in an icy tone. His noncommittal shrug was enough to send her over the edge of sanity. She hated when empty boxes were left in the cabinet, to lure the next unsuspecting victim into the false hope of food. Even more, she hated going into a work day without coffee. Her job was hard enough when she was caffeinated, and most days it became impossible without the aid of coffee several times throughout the day. What was even more frustrating was the fact that Mulder worked from home? Most of his time was spent writing journal articles for science and psychology. While their was nothing wrong with that, Scully could definitely argue that her need for the last cup of coffee was far greater than his. Furthermore, he had time to go out to a restaurant and get coffee, or even run to the grocery store around the corner to get another box of K-Cups. However, he did none of these things. He sipped the last cup of coffee lazily, his feet propped on the Table in complete obliviousness as he watched her move around the kitchen. She slammed cabinet doors as she finished making her breakfast, and then sat across the room from him, struggling not to make eye contact. The awkward silence pulled at her already damaged heart, as she tried to make toast as dry as cardboard go down her throat. Her anger had almost been replaced by sadness completely when Mulder took a long drag of coffee before speaking to her. "It's just coffee you know, really not that big of a deal" he said, a lazy grin spreading across his face. But it was a big deal to her, and he of all people should understand that. "I have to save lives today Mulder. While you sit here propping your feet up on the table, I have to focus through surgeries and appointments." To that he just shrugged, and her rage boiled to the surface.

"It was really inconsiderate of you to not even think about how this would effect me. My job is stressful, and you know the kind of week I've had. While you sit here writing, or whatever you do all day, I have to be the one to bring home money to keep us surviving. We all know the FBI money is long gone, and if it weren't for me, we'd be completely screwed. At least respect me enough to throw the damn boxes away when you use the last of something."

Mulder barely glanced in her direction before getting up, hurriedly walking up the stairs and leaving the room. Before she had even taken a breath she heard the door to his office upstairs slam shut. She didn't even start to regret the incident until she began the forty-five minute commute to work, and then it was honestly too late to fix anything.

She knew Mulder was overly sensitive about the fact that she went to work every day and he did not. She knew throwing that into a fight would hurt him more than anything else she could do, which was probably why she did it. Two people who had been together as long as they had knew exactly how to hurt each other in the worst way. If you could even say they were together any more. Mulder typically slept on the futon in his office, leaving their big king sized bed for Scully. They usually just grunted at each other a few times a day, and avoided each other whenever possible. If Scully thought too long about it, it made her more sad than anything else in the world, so she clouded the painful thought with work and anger. It was a pretty successful technique, but sometimes even her hectic life couldn't cloud her sadness. Not that she would ever admit it to anyone else, but she missed Mulder more than anything. She missed the X files and the joining of their brains to solve a difficult case. She yearned for the similar joining of their bodies in hotels across the country, giving each other the hope to keep going even when the work seemed impossible. The joining of their lips after a long day apart used to be her favorite thing in the world, and sometimes she wondered if they could ever get back that unity. Mulder used to be her bEst friend in the world. He was her rival, but in a way that made her mind more productive. She wanted to close the gap between them, but honestly wasn't sure if that could even be done now.

Mulder

The moment he saw Scully open the cabinet he knew he was going to be in trouble. He sipped his coffee guiltily, but was honestly too scared to say anything. He had watched Scully as she came down the stairs, and could already see her mood was sour before she even began the coffee tirade of 2015. He wished he could turn the clock back five minutes. He would have made the last cup for her, and passed it to her when she came down, smiling while he watched her enjoy. Most aspects of Mulder's life were pointless, but Scully was always the one thing that kept him going. When she became his partner years ago, he gained a focus that he had never had before. Even now when she barely talked to him, he felt better just having her near. He appreciated her more than he could explain, but the problem was he didn't think about how to show it until it was far too late. It's not like he drank that last cup of coffee just to spite her, or left the empty box in the cabinet just to start a fight. Everything about their relationship had gone downhill after the X files were closed. For a while, he thought they were going to make it through. Scully got a job at a hospital that she loved, and he enjoyed writing articles as a start. His original plan though was to switch to more challenging work as time passed. He wanted to be in the field moving and running every day. However, he had a reputation and it wasn't always a good one. Finding work turned out to be impossible, and writing scholarly articles under a pen name was the only thing he could do to contribute at all. At first, Scully was satisfied with her career and their relationship, and being their primary breadwinner didn't bother her. It bothered him, every second of every day, but as long as she was happy he tried to let it go. Over time though,the boredom began to eat at him more and more, and he could tell she was getting dissatisfied as well. Even though Scully wasn't the type of woman to need romantic dinners and candlelight, it made him feel like a jerk that he couldn't take her out every once in a while. He couldn't even buy her a christmas present last year without either not pang his cell phone bill, or not paying the utilities. He paid the utility and internet every month with his meager magazine earnings while she did everything else. He honestly didn't know what he would do without her, and sometimes he wished he could choke down his pride enough to tell her that. Mulder wasn't used to relying on anyone though. It was hard for him to say "sorry" and even harder to admit that he was at the mercy of Scully. Now that she had turned bitter it made things even harder. Qualities about him she used to find charming now annoyed her to no end. He almost felt like he couldn't even talk to her any more without her getting angry. A few weeks ago he had decided it would be easier to sleep in the office, because he really was not even sure if she wanted him next to her any more. She clung so close to the opposite side of the bed every night that Mulder could not bare to see her avoid him another night.

He originally planned to search for more journal's seeking scientific articles, but his mind was completely distracted by thoughts of Scully. He remembered chasing supposed monsters across towns with her, and the times she actually believed him about a case. At first her skepticism drove him insane, but over time it became more amusing than anything else. Proving himself to her became more important than the case itself, and when he realized that he knew he had fallen in love. Their relationship had never been an easy one, but it was always unique and fulfilling. They had sex before they even admitted their attraction, and did everything the exact opposite as the rest of the country. That was them though. It made him happy to know that no matter what, they were on the same wavelength. That is why they were so successful with the X files. As Mulder wiped the tears away that had collected at the corner of his eyes he knew he had to do something. The last time he had cried was on the death of theiR baby. If his emotions were this unsettled, Mulder knew it was time to act. He knew of only two things that would bring the light back into his long time FBI partner. The first was getting the child she had always dreamed of. Even though Mulder was desperate to help her, he knew switching out his male reproductive system for a female one was never going to happen, nor would he want it to for that matter. The only other thing he could think of was an X file. Of course she would argue, saying she had to work, and they were done for good. She would say the FBI closed their division for a reason, and they could get into trouble. It would go on and on. It might even cause the fighting to escalate. But all of that would be pushed aside once their brains began to delve into a case once more. Once he persuaded Scully to come with him on this adventure, he knew he could win back the dynamic and happiness they once had. All that was left to do now, was to find the perfect X file.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Scully

Logically, Scully knew that the lack of morning coffee was not effecting her day. She had gotten a cup first thing when she got to work, and had steadily sipped it throughout all of her morning appointments. When that cup was empty, she moved on to a second, and a third after that. She had plenty of caffeine running through her system, and there was only more to come. She was exhausted though either way. And her mind just kept blaming the coffee and Mulder. She couldn't figure out how to get herself to move on from that no matter how hard she tried. She knew she was really snapping when she reduced a cancer patient to tears. Ellie always came into the hospital with an upbeat attitude. She was seven, but had been in chemo five or six times since birth. Scully loved working in oncology because it was so near and dear to her heart. Even though a lot of the stories were heart breaking, every child she saved made her feel like the Xfiles used to. That feeling when her and Mulder solved a case, whether it was paranormal or not made Scully's heart soar. When it came down to it, she just loved the feeling of helping the people around her. She didn't care if it was through the FBI, the paranormal, or doctoring Cancer patients. She just loved to see the people who she aided smile at the end of the day. So that's why she was so devastated when Ellie was brought to tears. The little girl always asked Scully the same question at the end of her appointments. "We can beat this Dr. Scully right?" Every time Scully answered that she knew they could because they were an unstoppable team. Today though, Ellie's prognosis was particularly grim. Scully let her mood and literal nature get the best of her when she answered, "I hope so." The girl tried to hide it but instantly she was reduced to tears, and Scully felt like the worst person in the world. As she continued through the appointments of her day, her mind kept wandering between Ellie and Mulder. She felt horrible for the way both situations were going and felt powerless to fix them.

Mulder

Before Mulder got to work, he decided to go to the grocery store. He picked up more KCups for Scully and several other things they needed around the house. He hoped this would put a smile on her face, or at the very least encourage her not to kill him when she got home. After returning home he started on his research. He sat straight backed in his stiff leather chair, pounding away on his lap top while he scoured the web. He started by looking for accident patterns over the last few months. It was harder to find these than one might think. The best patterns were ones that people hadn't even discovered yet, so it was hard to google that kind of thing. Even though he had started with the FBI before the internet was really popular for his line of work, he adapted to it's idiosyncrasies easily. He enjoyed searching and putting things together and it filled his heart with hope as he worked.

Eventually he found a situation that looked pretty promising. In the last ten years their had been ten deaths on Folly Beach, located in Charleston Sc. The weird thing about all of these deaths was the fact that each victim was left lying in bed, completely skinless. Weirdly enough, these deaths happened on the exact same day. Even more oddly, their were other scattered reporting on Folly beach throughout the years of patients being admitted to hospitals upon waking up with extreme shortness of breath. This entire sequence fit an urban myth of South Carolina perfectly, and Mulder was shocked nobody else had seen the obvious solution in this case.

The Legend of the Boo Hag

A long time ago, residents of Folly beach began to tell each other about the incredibly terrible and strong boo hag. The boo hag was similar to a vampire, but instead of feeding on people's blood it fed on their life force. Their life force came through their energy, and it was sucked out through the victim's mouth as they slept. The abnormal thing about the boo hag though, was its skin. Boo hag's did not have any skin of their own, so while traveling among mortals, it had to borrow the skin of another. If a victim fought a boo hag from taking their energy, it would remove their skin to add to it's ever-growing costume collection. It was rumored that the only way to stop a boo hag was to leave a broom by your bed. Instead of taking your energy or skin, the hag would become distracted by counting the broom bristles.

Mulder

This myth thrilled Mulder. It matched the crimes precisely. He had found a Monster in Charleston South Carolina. He couldn't think of a better place to woo Scully once more. The salty waters of the beach, accompanied by horse drawn carriages downtown and local seafood. He knew Scully might resist at first, but ultimately he knew this was going to bring his Scully back to him. He figured the best way to start this plan was a steak out. They could get a beach house and talk to residents as they enjoyed the fresh, salty, air. The best part was that the next boo hag incident was going to occur in two weeks, at least according to the pattern. Before he could stop himself, Mulder grabbed Scully's credit part and rented them two weeks in South Carolina.

By his estimation he had worked all of this out perfectly. He gave Scully a week to warn work and to pack, and he rented a beautiful beach house that she would love. It was true that it was a little more expensive than he thought it would be, but every cent was worth it. He could not wait to tell Scully all about his plan. He even put a powerpoint and travel guide together to show her once she got home.


	3. Chapter 3

Scully

When Scully got home from work, she knew something was abnormal. First off, she smelled a warm sugary smell as she walked in the door. Was Mulder baking? Was that even possible? She doubted herself as she walked into the kitchen, and saw Mulder holding a pan of rice crispy treats. In her spot at the table was a glass of cold milk, full to the brim, and Mulder was attempting to cut the gooey treats while standing next to her chair. Scully stared at him in astonishment until he freed a portion of the dessert, and plopped it onto her plate. "Mulder?" she asked, still in shock. After running through various scenarios in her head, and questioning Mulder about them, she was confident nobody was dying, hurt, injured, and Skinner had not called. But then what could cause Mulder to act this uplifted? What could cause him to cook?

As she ate the treats, which were surprisingly delicious, she continued to try to pry the truth out of her long time partner. However, after understanding she was not getting anywhere, she stopped and let him lead the conversation. He was so happy. It had been too long since they had just sat together while talking and smiling. He insisted to hear about her day, and didn't in turn get bored by the little details like he usually did. He did not attempt to change the subject or talk about the FBI even once. When she told him about Ellie, she could not help tearing up as she remembered the broken hearted little girl. Mulder's right hand gently laid on top of her left as she finished the story, and he rubbed the back of her hand slightly as he empathized.

When Mulder's hand touched hers, a shock spread through Scully's entire body. It was like a jolt of electricity had been suddenly zapped through her. She realized in that moment how much she could still be effected by Mulder, and vowed to find a way to fix things between them. There were times when she thought it best to leave over the years, but something had always driven the two of them back together, and in that moment Scully appreciated that inanimate force.

Mulder

Once he came up with his plans, he knew he was going to have to ease into the explanation with Scully. If he went to quickly, she would shoot it down without even thinking about it. However, if he dragged it on too long, she would find to many reasons to say no. He was halfway positive giving her a week to pack and tell work was a bad idea, but he knew how mad she would be if he waited until the last second. He wanted to show her that this was genuinely planned out, and not just him "trying to believe." He had heard that phrase way too frequently lately, and just wanted the two of them to be on the same team once more.

Even though Scully tried to hide it, Mulder knew how powerful her sweet tooth was. The way to her heart was probably at least partially through her stomach. He looked up recipes to try and bake something for her. He would rather bake than buy, to signify the effort he was putting in. Unfortunately, everything looked way too complicated. Everything required measuring spoons, and for the life of Mulder he could not understand the concept. When Scully would bake, he would always ask her why she couldn't just use a regular spoonful, and she would always just laugh at him without giving a complete answer. Finally, after searching "desserts for first-timers" Mulder found the recipe for rice crispy treats. It looked easy enough, so he tried it for Scully. He finished just in time as she walked in the door. He was hoping to have time to sample them first, in case he created something horrible, but he put the first one on to her plate. Her eyes lit up slightly as she walked into the kitchen, but he could also see her mind working. She knew something was going on, and the way she questioned him was a way to make a seasoned criminal give in. Mulder was experienced with her ways though, and knew just how to distract her from her thoughts. When they started talking about her day, Mulder let out a sigh of contentment for the first time in a long while. Maybe this plan could work after all. She certainly seemed receptive to him now. As she told him about the little girl he wondered if she would reject a touch from him. He wanted to kiss her, so badly, but knew that wouldn't go over well yet. He lightly rested his hand on top of hers, and felt the nervousness of a school boy as he did it. It was worth it though. Even though his partner had aged, the skin of her hand was as smooth as ever, and just rubbing his finger on her hand was giving him goosebumps. However, he knew he had to pull away from the touch and not get lost in it. After all, he had a legend to explain.

He started by telling Scully the legend. As she heard that it was going to be a myth, she leaned back in her chair and sighed exasperatedly. She interjected hastily into his tale,

"Mulder I know you want to believe but you just can't. This is just some old folktale in South Carolina. The Fbi is over, as far as the xfiles. Whether they are out there or not, we are done with them, and this right now, is why I've been thinking we need to be done with each other as well."

A stunned silence followed Scully's exclamation. Mulder could tell that both of them had thought those words at some points, but never had anyone voiced him so bluntly. Scully's words went straight to his heart, and he felt as if a knife had been stabbed through his chest. The physical pain was so much that he almost cried out, but instead he sat in stunned silence. It looked like Scully was stunned as well. She sat next to him frozen, one hand left where he had touched it a moment earlier, the other still on her cup of milk, about to lift it. Her expression seemed angry as her eyes filled with tears, and even after what she just said, Mulder wanted to make her pain go away.

Finally, when Mulder could not bear it any more he spoke to her softly.

"Scull, I've loved you ever since our first case together when you doubted me every step of the way. And I still continue to love you as you doubt me now. I understand your thoughts, and understand why you feel the way you do, but give me one last chance. Give me this trip to South Carolina and this case. If afterward you still feel this way, then we will legitimately start building our separate lives. But it could help us to. Will you give me this last chance?"


End file.
